I took an existing fable and rewrote it in my own words, and then used collage to illustrate it.
After writing my version of the story, I arranged the text in notecards to see the overall story arc and get a sense of the pacing. This allowed me to edit and make certain parts longer or shorter. Once I had an idea for the pacing and sequence of the story, I was able to sketch and then experiment with collage to create appropriate illustrations.
The local thrift store became a gold mine for this project.
Me having fun throwing pieces down on the carpet. I then photographed each scene and then laid all of the photos out in a grid so that I could see the overall flow of the story. After I had an idea of what to do with each spread, I scanned in the pieces and cut them into individual PNG files to later assemble in Photoshop.
Some aspects of my process necessitated things like placing paper on my computer screen and drawing on it, then scanning it in and multiplying it onto the page. I wanted to make sure everything was organic and not contrived. The worst thing in this case would have been a photoshop-generated realistic texture or extensive use of cast shadows.
Selected Photos and Spreads
Here are some photos of the finished product. I didn't include images of all of the spreads, as there would be no incentive to purchase it if you could look through the whole book here :)
